When James Cameron, famed director of Titanic, was recently reported by World Entertainment News Network as being weary of Avenger movies, his comments were doubtless dismissed as irrelevant by the millions of fans who have flocked to see the latest release in the series.
There is no doubt comic book movies occupy an enormous amount of screen time and, in light of the fact that Marvel has announced no fewer than seven upcoming releases, this is likely to continue.
Despite that, however, many moviegoers may well echo Cameron’s sentiments in finding the films formulaic, predictable in their plot developments, and meritorious largely because of their ability to employ computer-generated images to the accompaniment of thunderous soundtracks.
However, attempts to play to an entirely different audience have generated a number of films. Beginning with The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and continuing with Quartet and other such releases, these films, usually British, are clearly aimed at audiences of a certain age.
Customarily starring “mature” stage and talented stars such as Maggie Smith and Bill Nighy, they tend to deal with problems encountered by the older generation, often taking a humourous and optimistic approach to the difficulties experienced by people in their “golden years.” The latest release in this genre is Finding Your Feet.
This film details the fortunes and misfortunes of Sandra, who discovers after 35 years of marriage that here husband has been having an affair. Rightly furious, she seeks refuge in her sister’s apartment.
Following the formula, the film goes on to include a number of senior issues, ranging from finding new meaning when life seems to be over, to finding new romance when it seems unlikely, to cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.
As such, Finding Your Feet offers a predictable scenario as a stalwart cast, including Joanne Lumley, Celia Imre, and Timothy Spall in familiar fashion attempt to put a positive spin on aging.
At times, indeed, it does so in an entertaining fashion so that those attending the film in expectation that the formula will work once again may find it satisfactory. However, despite that, the film does not really deliver as well as one might hope.
Part of the problem is that the film is far too ambitious in attempting to cover far too many issues, often in a fashion that is glib and superficial. The reality is that failed marriage, Alzheimer’s, and the problems of starting life over in one’s sunset years may require a positive and even humourous approach, but they are essentially profoundly difficult challenges that perhaps require the more serous treatment given by such films as the American Still Alice and the Canadian Away from Her.
Unfortunately, such films, for all their merit, do not prove to be big office draws. It’s far more profitable to stick to the success of Marigold Hotel. After all, understandably, people dealing with the vicissitudes of aging are likely to be seeking diversion, laughter, and optimistic entertainment.
So it is that we get films like Finding Your Feet. Its poorly developed and over-ambitious story-line, its attempt to cover far too many topics, and its contrived ending may not be great cinema. However, it does have the compensation of a stellar cast, a complexity of plot developments, and an appeal to a wide range of emotions. Its intended audience may in fact find it satisfactory.
In the meantime, the many moviegoers who are as anxious as James Cameron to see a greater variety of well-made, entertaining and worthwhile movies will have to settle for yet another action hero or heroine saving the world from disaster again, and again, and again.
